Friday, 24 May 2013

Adelaide to Melbourne - Day 5

Ah bliss...a sleep in this morning! So, it was a late start and I wasn't peddling out of Portland until 9.45am. The sun was out though, and the day was heading for a pleasant high of 18 degrees. Sadly the pesky easterly wind was still lurking about, not a strong wind, but there nonetheless. The plan for today was to have a short day but still cover at least some distance.

Today was also a day where there was no choice but to ride the A-Roads, so it wasn't all that interesting from a scenic point of view. I did however pull over at Tower Hill:

Which has another old volcanic crater nearby. The rock formations looked interesting, though I'd need some help from the more geologically inclined to explain it further...is that weathered sandstone?

Earlier in the trip a Caravaner had told me not to miss Port Fairy, so I made sure of it with a lunch stop there. It is a very pretty and sleepy tree lined town with lots of cute old buildings. Plenty of cafes, but they all seemed to be in the shade, so I brought a couple of rolls from a bakery and had a little picnic in the sunshine.

It was only a short hop from here to Warrnambool, but along a nasty stretch of dual carraigeway with only an intermitent cycle lane. Warnambool is a big town/small city, and I didnt feel like negotiating it, so I stayed on the main drag and headed directly out the other side of the city, opting for a camp ground on the far edge of town.

The next few days will be much more interesting. The Great Ocean Road starts just 5 km from here and "The Apostles" are not much further on...I'll stop there for lunch! After that, there are 2 really big hill climbs one after the other... totaling 1340 meters in ascent. I'll have to decide tomorrow whether to try and tackle both , or stay at the top of the first hill which is about 120km from here. The hill on day 1 was about the same size, but I had fresh legs so I'll be treating these with respect!

As the sun went down while I'm typing this, the sky was lit up with streaky cirrus clouds, perhaps that westerly change is on its way?